Sunidhi Mahajan
Well… just a small word of five alphabets but the whole of the universe revolves around it. A Sanskrit term that roughly decodes “action,” is a staple notion in some Eastern beliefs, including Hinduism and Buddhism. It is meant to be what we put out will come back to us in surprising ways. So, give only what you don?t mind getting back to you. It connects our actions and results. The idea of Karma first appears in the oldest Hindu text the Rig-Veda with a limited meaning of ritual action which it continues to hold in the early ritual dominant scriptures until its philosophical scope is extended in the later Upanishads (c. 800-300 BCE). The term gains a more philosophical weight when the consequences of actions are attached to it. Thus karma gains a moral or ethical dimension. Virtuous and wicked activities practiced in this life are summative outcomes of deeds in this and previous lives. This is known as the Law of Karma and it is regarded as a natural and universal law. Karma not only defends the present situation of an individual but also vindicates the cycle of birth and death (or samsara) which is common in South Asian Philosophy. Karma as a reciprocal concept includes both action and intent. All good actions like charity to the needy, service to elders, help to kin, etc. and all good intentions or well-wishes for others are rewarded and vice-versa. The leading immoral action is hurting a women, whether a physical, mental torcher. Even Lord Shri Krishna declares To insult a chaste woman means to bring about disaster in the duration of life. Du???sana, a brother of Duryodhana, insulted Draupad?, an ideal chaste lady, and therefore the miscreants died untimely. This Law of Karma inspires an individual to follow two things (a) good deeds to avoid bad reciprocal results (b) adhere to some spiritual action to neutralize the effects of karma. The second point may not be common to all traditions. The ending of karma and karmic consequences releases one from the cycle of birth and death commonly known as moksha or nirvena. From a philosophical perspective, there is a lengthy debate between free-will and karma. If one is acting inappropriately now, one can justify this as a consequence of one’s past only if karma exists. However, along with the theory of karma, one is granted with wish and one can act according to one’s morality. So while securing the fruits of one’s past karma, good or bad, one is accumulating new karma as well as acting on one’s free-will. This also gives one an opportunity to act in such a way that one may liberate oneself.
This Law of Karma is reliable and everyone unvaryingly is subjected to it. It is something like Newton?s third law of motion, which states that, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. Sometimes we are unaware to the fact that most of our lifetime is spent in undergoing destiny which is created by our karmas or deeds in our past births. As per the law of karma, every positive deed which we do generates a “merit?; while every negative deed results in a “demerit or sin? which subsequently we need to repay by enduring happiness or unhappiness. All major events in our life are predetermined – for instance the family that we are born into, whom we will meet in our life, who will become our friend/enemy, to
whom we will get married etc. During our day-to-day interactions, we are either settling an old account or creating a new one. If an account is not settled in the present birth it is carried over to the next birth. Although, we are not consciously aware of the give-and-take karmic accounts generated in our previous births. In our subsequent births, we may or may not be equipped to settle our destiny and the paradox is that at the same time we are creating new karmic accounts. Thus, this loop of karma and destiny binds us and we remain entangled in it. The only way through which we can nullify our give and take account and destiny is through sustained and regular spiritual practice. In understanding the Law of Karma, we can see how spiritual practice can be useful to even those of us who have absolutely no spiritual interest and who only wish to be immersed in worldly pursuits. Even for those worldly relations to be fruitful they need to be insulated from destiny.
The next time something good or something bad happens to you, take a minute and think about whether it could be karma. Did something good that you did lead to a positive consequence? If you engaged in a negative action, did a related negative consequence occur? It?s certainly wise to consider that actions have consequences. While karma is on your mind, this is a good time to also consider the relationship between ethics, morals and values.
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